The Minister of Economic Affairs and third vice president of the Government, Nadia Calviño , is confident that the approval of two bills on digital taxation will not cause reprisals from the US. "We are aligned with community actions, following international debates, committed to the development of an appropriate regulatory framework, there is no need to have negative reactions to this action," he explained from Brussels, where he attends a meeting of the Eurogroup and Ecofin .

The Council of Ministers plans to approve on Tuesday the decrees, misnamed Google rate and Tobin rate on financial transactions, to start the parliamentary process, with the aim, without anticipated deadlines, to be able to have income this same year. In Brussels, Calviño has not wanted to advance what collection forecasts have closed. Sources of Economy have pointed in the last hours to figures around 2,000 million euros for the two measures , similar to the calculations that had been made last year. However, the vice president has referred to the impact report that will leave the Council of Ministers and has pointed out that everything will depend on how quickly everything can be done. The later, the less money . "The collection does not start on January 1, we will have to see the time necessary for the parliamentary process, I hope it will be as soon as possible to have the resources this year," he admitted.

The meeting of the ministers coincides in the community capital with the presence of the founder of Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg , who meets among others with Commissioner Thierry Breton . "We should try to avoid naming a specific company," said the Spanish before the usual reference to the Google rate . "It is something that taxes digital services, it is not against a specific company or a group of them. It is important to be clear, the objective of the Government is that there is a fee on digital services, the platform, transmission to third parties of the data, which This is where the added value of these digital services operations is. It is taxed where the added value is produced, "he said.

There is currently no consensus in the EU or the OECD, and that is why several countries, starting with France, have chosen to go solo. "We work constructively in renouncing to advance in the national scope for a system that is fair, that the taxes of the analogical world are applied to the digital one and of paying taxes where the data are produced", insisted the vice president.

No payments on account

A fact contributed by Calviño in Brussels is that the system that will leave this Tuesday from the Council of Ministers will be similar to the French at least in one element. "In the French case, the payment on account has been suspended so that the liquidation is made at the end of the year. We will provide a similar system to allow some time to see how [the debate in the international arena] evolves, it is not suspension but liquidation at the end of the year, "he said.

The original structure designed in recent years, which followed a design that never came to fruition made by the European Commission for the whole of the EU, was a type around 3% for large companies with a world turnover of more than 750 million and that, in addition, have income of at least three million euros in our country. And with principles similar to those discussed at the international level, not so much about income per se but pointing to online advertising or the sale of data.

The Tobin rate , which has languished in Europe for almost a decade , had been raised as a margin of 0.2% of each sale of equity for giants with capitalization above 1,000 million euros.

As he explained to the cameras, it is important for the Government to give a clear message of fiscal adaptation "to the reality of the 21st century" and move towards "a fair, progressive tax system, which focuses the collection on new activities that were not taxed. citizens expect from the government a solid system with sufficient collection capacity to respond to the public services they need in Education, Health or social services. We have to ensure that the collection system is as solid, progressive and fair as possible ", has settled.

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  • Nadia Calviño
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  • European Comission

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